Our 14th meetup brought us into one-year-old bottle shop & bar, Public Beer and Wine on 4th Street and Pine. This downtown Long Beach gem specializes in serving loads of local and national craft beer on tap, with a small but unique bottle selection as well. As a special treat, co-owner and brewer Bobby Fitzgerald of new Costa Mesa brewery Gunwhale Ales brought in some beers for us to try, a variety of hop-forward farmhouse ales and an IPA. It was a great turnout and we had a chance to taste some fantastic beers by Gunwhale. Special thanks to Bobby for traveling out from San Diego to share his tasty brews with us and to Gino and the crew at Public Beer & Wine for hosting our group. Looking forward to seeing everyone at our next gathering soon!

We’re starting to feel a little bit like a broken record, but here comes another new micro – or should we say nano – brewery opening up in Long Beach. Hog Canyon Brewing is about as teeny as it gets and owner Larry Chavez hopes to have the brewery up and running with the taproom open later this summer. The brewery will run on a 1-1/2 barrel system in a small industrial building at 1239 Locust, next to the Long Beach Senior Arts Colony. The name “Hog Canyon” is an homage to the location of the Work Family Guest Ranch, a 12,000-acre family-owned working ranch in Paso Robles, California where Chavez grew up. The tap room will be small, seating about 20 people at a time and Chavez plans to begin serving up some traditional styles, with an emphasis on India Pale Ales, including his 15-45 IPA and a hazy IPA.

With the addition of another new brewery, Trademark Brewing, who recently announced their fall opening just across the way at 233 E. Anaheim (next to the Packard Building), Long Beach’s Washington neighborhood is soon getting an infusion of some serious craft.

Stay tuned for more photos and updates about Hog Canyon Brewing as the build-out continues and date gets closer for opening.